Hume Returns from the Interior

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser

15 April 1826

We are informed, that Messrs. Hamilton and John Kennedy Hume returned a few days ago from the interior.

They have been in search of the bullocks left by Messrs. Hovell and Hume, on their return from Western Port; the oxen, through excessive fatigue, were quite exhausted and unable to travel, and Messrs. Hume and Hovell were obliged to leave them upwards of 220 miles from Sydney.

The cart that was also left behind, with great difficulty they succeeded in getting over on this side Murrumbidjee, or Lachlan River, where they were obliged to leave it, on account of one of the horses being severely hurt in recrossing the river.

Most of the articles, with the harness, that were left by Messrs. Hovell and Hume, with the cart, were either decayed, or destroyed by the natives.

They found the bones of one of the oxen a short distance from the place where they were left; the others were not discoverable, although they frequently fell in with their tracks, which were sufficient to convince the tourists the oxen were still living.

During this short excursion, they also discovered a very fine and extensive plain, well watered by a rivulet running through it in a northerly direction; the soil in general is good, if they might judge from the appearance of the grass and herbage which it produced, the same being of the very best quality; the surrounding forests appeared to be extensive; the timber, as far as they travelled, is lofty and of a good quality; the fish caught by them in the rivulet were of two kinds, viz.-the cod or Lachlan fish, and a kind resembling the perch, but much larger.